To start things off this week, I would like to discuss what transpired at the beginning of Raw in the confrontation between Brock Lesnar and Drew McIntyre. If Lesnar retains his title at WrestleMania, and, unfortunately, that possibility needs to be acknowledged, then this very well may be the main event at SummerSlam. I have nothing against Brock (it’s the opposite in fact: I think he is a fantastic performer), I just wish he would show up more often. It may have been cool at some point during Lesnar’s career to see him take a little more ownership of his character and not rely so much on Paul Heyman, but that ship may have sailed since Brock is so late in his career.
I also humbly think that Kurt Angle deserves better than what McMahon is giving him with the booking for his retirement match at ‘Mania. It makes sense from a storytelling standpoint, but, in my opinion, he deserves a much better opponent from a wrestling standpoint than Baron Corbin, maybe someone like Finn Balor. Corbin has not done a whole lot to stand out in his three years on the main roster.
I guess Beth Phoenix is going to come out of retirement for at least one more match at WrestleMania to challenge for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships along with Natalya against Sasha Banks and Bayley. Personally, I have never been all that impressed with Natalya. I have never resonated with her (I know this would hurt her feelings. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just don’t).
It has become apparent that Ricochet and Aleister Black are the No. 1 contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania, and they should win because they are much more over than The Revival.
One other thing that deserves mentioning is the strength of Drew McIntyre’s booking as of late. It went through a little bit of a rough patch in the Fall of 2018 but has made a full recovery. McIntyre’s match with Roman Reigns should be a great one at WrestleMania (in part because it’s such an easy story to relate to. I read an article about it on Forbes.com written by Blake Oestriecher, one of my favorite authors on the Internet regarding the business of WWE). If I were Vince, I would use this opportunity to book McIntyre to come out of this match as the victor, cementing him as the top heel on Monday Night Raw. Roman Reigns would not be too badly hurt by this loss.
Side Note: Congratulations to Alexa Bliss on hosting this year’s WrestleMania, and also to Elias, for that matter, on being the headlining musical act at WrestleMania this year. It may be beneficial to Elias’ career and possibly solidify him as at least a mid-carder if he is booked in the future closer to the way he was immediately prior to the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in 2018 in which a slightly more serious side of his character is explored and developed. Otherwise, WWE runs the risk of having him turn into No Way Jose (I love No Way Jose, but let’s be honest… he’s a slightly more tolerable version of Adam Rose from a few years ago), and no one wants that. Elias deserves better. He is fun, but he needs to develop a slightly more serious side to his character in the future if he wants to become a multiple-time champion one day.